


Don't Leave Me

by zeejayblue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith and Lance are in love, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Whump, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sickfic, Whump, i guess, keith is such a sweetheart, lance is sick and keith is worried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 20:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11494137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeejayblue/pseuds/zeejayblue
Summary: Lance falls ill unexpectedly in the middle of a mission, and Keith sees to it that Lance recovers smoothly.





	Don't Leave Me

    Lance wasn’t too eager about the mission he was on. Keith was trekking ahead of him, thwacking branches and vines out of the way with his bayard. Lance made sure to be cautious around the greenery, not wanting to have his arm or leg snag a vine and get poisoned.

    Lance had been feeling a little under the weather lately. Allura had been stressing out the paladins by making sure to do constant training drills, meaning they were woken up every few hours to form Voltron. It was important, though, Lance had to give her that. Nobody could ever predict when Zarkon would attack, so they had to make sure they were prepared for as many situations as possible.

    Lance had woken up this morning with a headache and some sniffles, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t power through. He was painfully aware that all he needed was to lay down and rest, and walking miles and miles on end with no breaks wasn’t the brightest idea. He had no option, though.

    “Can you pick up the pace? We need to get back to the castle,” Keith snapped, turning his head slightly to project his bitter words behind him. Keith angrily swiped his bayard at a vine that was in his face, huffing as he continued forward. Lance wiped the sweat off his brow and suppressed a sneeze, sniffling and sighing.

    “Sorry,” Lance muttered, trying to find the energy to pick up his legs a little faster. Keith was acting a bit more short tempered than usual, and Lance presumed it was because he was exhausted. All of the paladins were.

    They’ve been training nonstop with very few breaks. Every time they’d ask for one, Allura would usually fire back with, “Do you think Zarkon cares that you want a break?” That line would always provoke a tired silence, and then the paladins would return to their strict training regimen. Lance had been feeling sub-par for the past few days, and he knew he was getting worse since he hasn’t really stopped moving in the past four days.

    All of the paladins were running on a few hours of sleep and this mission was more pressing than the last one. Steep hills, plants and vines everywhere, and not to mention the humid heat surrounding them. Keith was exhausted and so was Lance, so Lance decided to say nothing else to give Keith some time to cool down.

    The only sounds were Keith pulling up the holomap every once in awhile, the sound of Keith’s bayard moving plants out of their way, Lance’s small coughs and sneezes, and his heavy breathing.

    Lance wiped more sweat off of his forehead, frowning at how warm he felt. Despite the damp heat, Lance felt his skin break out into goosebumps as his limbs shivered. Legs and arms drooping, Lance felt himself begin to slow down. His vision was fuzzy, and he found that he was using most of his energy to keep from falling over.

    Keith’s back straightened and he turned his head slightly to hear for Lance’s footsteps. They were slow, and it sounded like he wasn’t even bothering to lift his feet from the ground. Lance was dragging his feet in attempts to catch up.

    Keith sighed and focused back ahead of him, muttering some choice words and complaints about the current mission as he thwacked more vines out of the way. Lance didn’t realize how slow he was walking until his vision finally focused again for a brief moment, revealing how far behind from Keith he was.

    Keith furrowed his brows when he didn’t hear Lance’s heavy, dragging footsteps anymore. Keith turned his head around and spotted Lance, leaning against a tree. Keith rolled his eyes.

    “Come on, Lance, we’re almost there,” Keith called irritably. Lance didn’t look up. Keith slowly stepped towards the blue paladin, and as he got closer he noticed how badly Lance was shaking.

    “Lance?” Keith called cautiously. Lance looked up slowly, revealing a pale, sweaty face with bags under his eyes. He was struggling to catch his breath, and it seemed that all of his energy was going towards standing upright.

    Keith furrowed his eyebrows and stepped forward, feeling Lance’s forehead. The sudden heat on Keith’s hand was enough to cause him to jump back in surprise, shaking the heat off his hand. Lance slowly sighed and leaned over, his eyes squinted shut.

    “Lance?” Keith called, his voice slow. Lance replied with a low groan.

    “I… I’m not feeling too…” Lance breathed out, his head swirling. Before he or Keith could say anything else, Lance’s eyes rolled back and fluttered shut, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

    “Lance!” Keith shouted, rushing to Lance’s side and dropping to his knees. Lance’s face was contorted in discomfort. His ashen skin was glistening with sweat and coated in goosebumps. Lance’s entire body was quivering, and Keith adjusted the ill blue paladin so his head was resting in his lap.

     “Shiro?” Keith called into the comms, his voice high pitched and panicky.

    “What’s going on?” Shiro replied, his voice firm and cautious after hearing the red paladin so frightened.

    “Lance collapsed,” Keith stated, his voice wavering.

    “How’s he doing?” Shiro replied, his voice mostly level with a hint of worry.

    “Not good, he has a high fever, he’s shaking, he’s sweating, and he’s unconscious,” Keith explained, his heart beating faster after hearing the details of Lance’s condition aloud. He had never seen Lance so frail and sick.

    Keith felt his pulse quicken when Shiro was silent for a moment. Panic welled into his chest when Shiro shouted for Allura and Coran to prep a bed in the infirmary. Keith held Lance’s hand in his, taking a few deep breaths.

    “We’re on our way, stay put,” Shiro affirmed. Keith nodded to himself and muttered a thank you before setting his helmet aside.

    Normally Keith would be thankful for Lance’s silence, but the way he looked was so unsettling. Lance’s usually bright, tan skin was pale and drenched with sweat, and his usual bright eyes were squinted shut in discomfort.

    Keith felt a rush of emotions in his chest. They all felt like a mixture of worry, sympathy, and panic. Keith never expected to be this worried about Lance, but right now all he wanted to do was hold him close, comfort him, and tell him he was going to be okay.

    Lance groaned lightly, rubbing his temples. Keith felt a rush of relief hit him, and he ushered Lance to lay down when he tried to sit up.

    “What happened?” Lance’s usual bright, orotund voice was gravelly and weak.

    “You passed out, you have a pretty high fever,” Keith explained. He didn’t expect his voice to sound as soft and soothing as it did. Lance hummed in reply, sighing as he leaned back into Keith’s lap.

    “Sorry,” Lance mumbled, heaving as he tried to catch some air.

    “For what?” Keith turned his head to the side quizzically.

    “For getting sick, ruining… the mission,” Lance breathed. Keith’s brows pinched to create a worried expression.

    “You didn’t ruin it,” Keith replied, his voice low. Lance breathed shakily, causing a fit of coughs to wrack his shaking body. They sounded wet and grating, and caused Keith to recoil in sympathy. Lance’s eyes widened and he clutched his stomach. He squinted his eyes shut, taking deep breaths in attempts to fight off the wave of nausea that washed over him.

    Lance then suddenly violently lurched forward, retching as his stomach’s contents splattered on the ground in front of him. Keith tried his best not to gag as well, and rubbed Lance’s back as he continued to vomit.

    Lance continued to retch until there was nothing left. After vomiting a few times, the only thing that would come up each time he heaved was stomach acid and bile. Lance’s energy was drained and as soon as the nausea went away, he sighed and moved towards a tree that was behind them, leaning up against it.

    The pair was mostly silent, Keith just asking how Lance was feeling every few minutes. Keith saw the castle land in the distance, and Shiro came thundering out of the doors. Within the next thirty seconds, Shiro had found Lance and Keith.

    Shiro tried to hold back a disgusted face at the stench of stomach acid, and took a breath before walking over to Lance. Shiro’s face softened when he saw his condition.

    “Lance, can you walk?” Shiro questioned gently. Keith bolted upright and held out a hand to help him up. Lance grabbed Keith’s hand, and Keith felt a warmth spread through his chest. Lance draped an arm around Keith’s shoulder so he could stand, and Keith focused on helping Lance hobble to the castle.

    Shiro and Keith urged Lance into the infirmary, and all of the other worried paladins were hot on their heels. Keith helped Shiro tuck Lance into bed, and Keith sat back in a chair next to Lance’s bed as Coran hooked up Lance to an IV.

    The other paladins were fretting over Lance, and Shiro took the liberty of explaining the situation. Keith was staring down at Lance, who was sleeping, with wide, worried eyes.

    After a while, the other paladins left to get something to eat, but Keith stuck behind. Keith watched Lance, making sure he wasn’t uncomfortable or was about to vomit again.

     “Keith, you coming for dinner?” Shiro questioned softly, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith tensed a little before shaking his head.

    “I’m fine here,” Keith replied softly, not looking away from Lance. Shiro sighed when he noticed how worried the red paladin was.

    “Lance will be fine,” Shiro assured. Keith sighed and still didn’t look away from Lance. Lance stirred a little in his sleep, and sighed as he resettled.

    “I’m not leaving him,” Keith replied, his voice low and thick with emotion. Shiro sighed and decided to leave Keith be.

    Keith cursed under his breath when he felt his eyes water. Keith was so worried about Lance. He thought he’d been poisoned, or something. Lance seemed so sick and frail, and all Keith could do was panic. If Keith had some of the vast medical knowledge that Coran has, maybe he could have prevented Lance from getting this ill.

    Keith sighed and wiped the single tear that slid down his cheek, sniffling softly as he leaned back in his chair. He watched Lance intently, feeling the strange need to protect and comfort him.

    After resting for a while, Lance’s eyes fluttered open again. His vision was starting to clear, but his head still felt a little foggy. Lance still felt a little feverish and sniffly, but he definitely felt better than he did during the mission.

    Lance rolled his head lazily to the right, noticing Keith had been sitting with him for a while. Keith was resting his chin in his palm, his eyes shut and soft snores drifting out of his parted lips.

    Lance didn’t mind Keith’s company. He hated being alone when he was sick. And, to be honest, the reason why Lance butts heads with Keith quite often is because Lance is rather fond of him. Lance just tries to cover up his blush and the fluttering in his chest with arrogant, sassy remarks.

    Lance groaned a little as he stretched, prompting Keith, who seemed to be dead asleep, to bolt upright and immediately ask Lance how he was feeling.

    “You feeling okay?” Keith queried, his voice scratchy and tired from sleep. Lance nodded and yawned before responding.

    “I feel a little better, just tired,” Lance murmured, his voice slow and his eyes still shut. Keith cupped Lance’s cheek, and found that his temperature was a lot lower. Lance was still warm, but he was definitely improving. Lance leaned into Keith’s touch, and almost whined when Keith drew his hand back.

    “Get some rest,” Keith replied quietly, standing up to leave.

    “Keith,” Lance croaked. Keith was almost out the door, and he turned around to see Lance looking at him with begging eyes.

    “Stay,” Lance breathed. A warm feeling Keith could only describe as affection welled up into his chest, causing his cheeks to flush and a smile to tug at his lips.

    “Okay,” Keith hummed, sitting back down in the chair beside Lance’s bed.

    “I’m cold,” Lance murmured, pouting and looking up at Keith. Lance sleepily patted the empty space on his bed, indicating that he wanted Keith to lay next to him. Keith felt his cheeks flush slightly and he sighed, standing up to sit next to Lance on his bed.

    There was just barely enough room for the two of them. Keith reclined himself so he was laying down, but his head was still elevated. Lance sighed in content and scooted closer to Keith, wrapping his arms around Keith’s torso.

    “Will you forget this bonding moment, too?” Keith questioned with a low chuckle. Keith looked down to Lance, who had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly. Keith felt a rush of warmth and affection well up in his chest.

    “Mm-mm,” Lance hummed, sighing as he got more comfortable. Keith delicately moved a stray strand of hair to the side of Lance’s forehead, combing his hair with his fingers.

    “I don't ever want you to leave me,” Lance muttered, his eyes closed. Keith smiled, leaning his head back so it was on the pillow, closing his eyes as well.

    “I won’t leave you,” Keith mumbled. Moments later, the pair had drifted off in each other’s arms, happy and comfortable in a warm embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> i love how this started and hate how it ended  
> i'm awful at ending oneshots smoothly,, it just all feels so choppy  
> but hERE have some klance  
> i am a slut for whumps/sickfics  
> i just,, i love the hurt/comfort aspect of it i'm not a sadist i swear  
> also i apologize for any grammar or spelling errors, i didn't proofread this ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


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